By Joe Giordano || Sports Editor
Imagine this. Your team is down at the end of a tight game. The pressure is on and the bright lights are shining. You have your choice of any quarterback on planet Earth to lead your team to victory. Who do you choose? For most people, especially after last Sunday’s improbable win, their choice would be none other than Patriot’s quarterback Tom Brady.
With the Patriots down 28-3 to the Falcons with 8 minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Patriots were no doubt up against tough odds in capturing their franchise’s 5 Super Bowl title. Any Patriots fan will gladly tell you that there was no doubt the comeback was imminent. However, it is more than likely true that there are very few people who envisioned the Patriots winning the game. All of the doubters had forgotten one thing: number 12 was leading the comeback.
Tom Brady’s Super Bowl performance this past Sunday was nothing short of remarkable. It’s hard to imagine that at 39 years old, Brady is still playing at such a high level. Brady was able to out play young gun Matt Ryan by amassing 466 yards on an astounding 62 attempts and scoring 2 touchdowns. This latest performance by Brady has fans labeling him as the greatest quarterback to ever live and to me that argument is completely justified.
His five Super Bowl titles speak for themselves in my opinion and his continued high-level play has many wondering whether Father Time will ever catch up with the Patriot’s star. While other quarterbacks, Peyton Manning for example, have seen a very steep and sudden drop-off as their careers winded down, Brady has almost seemed to improve as he has aged.
This most recent Super Bowl served as a perfect example, as the Patriots were able to claim the crown without their star tight end Rob Gronkowski. Whether he has the most lethal receivers in the league around him or a group of role players, Brady is able to make everyone around him on the field better. This is a characteristic that I believe sets him apart from the other great quarterbacks of all-time. With this Super Bowl win, arguably the best receiver on the squad was Julian Edelman. While Edelman is no doubt a fantastic receiver with ton of skills, I am not sure where he ranks among the all-time great receivers. Other greats like Peyton Manning had Reggie Wayne and Marvin Harrison to throw to, while Brady did not enjoy the same luxuries.
Many could consider this latest Patriots win a meltdown by the Falcons. However, the skill and precision Tom Brady used to pick apart Atlanta in the third and fourth quarters showed why he is the best to ever do it. One could make the argument that no other quarterback besides Brady would have been able to pull off what he did and I tend to agree with them. The only hope to stopping Brady’s dominance over the league seems to be Father Time and even he, it appears, is losing to the Patriots star.
Junior Joe Giordano is the Sports Editor. His email is jgiorda1@fandm.edu.